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epitome of incomprehensibility
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Putting together the translation from the Chandogyo Upanishad gets me one, and I think, "Pah, another person commenting how a tiny seed can grow into a big tree. All religions are the same: unoriginal."
But as I'm walking back from the library, I think about how the two parables I'm thinking of are making different points.
Jesus was reported as saying that faith is like a mustard seed: a small bit can have big results.
On the other hand, the Sanskrit passage made the point that...but what WAS the point? Am I so bad at the language that I missed it? Is it just that I can't articulate it? That I don't have the cultural context?
Well, I don't, but I make an attempt, as my "elf coat" swishes around my legs.
The idea is that the life essence is in all things even if you can't see it. The student who split open the seed saw nothing inside, but this seed could grow into a huge tree. So its main point might not be faith - even though the teacher does tell the student "Believe!" - but the idea of a world soul that exists apart from the plants and creatures it dwells in.
You could non-religiously call it life. "That's life," you can say with a shrug. This is how I am pro-life: I like trees, even without metaphors.
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